Dusk and Dawn
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: Moonlight Sparkle, the identical twin of Twilight, was taken from their crib when she was barely one month old. Dawn Potter was taken by Lily and James three days after Moonlight was kidnapped. Now Dawn has found a way back to Equestria to her real family, but will the magical community let her leave so easily? And can she reconnect to her lost twin sister Twilight? FEM HARRY!
1. Chapter 1

Twilight Velvet looked at the twin unicorns she had delivered less than a month ago. Moonlight and Twilight were a sleeping peacefully, and Moonlight had already displayed some rather impressive magic ability by levitating both herself and Twilight all around the room.

Poor Shining had hidden in his room when he heard the now familiar sounds of uncontrolled magic from his twin sister's room.

She was heading into the kitchen to get some more formula for the girls when she felt a large magical buildup from their room.

She ran up the stairs in time to see a flare of red flames from under the door, and when she finally opened the door she saw a phoenix who looked very different from Princess Celestia's Philomena. For one thing it was a male.

"Moonlight! Twilight!" she cried out, running to their cradle.

The phoenix had kidnapped Moonlight!

"Momma, what's wrong?" asked Shining from around the corner of the door.

"Get your father! A phoenix has kidnapped Moonlight!" shouted Twilight Velvet.

Shining raced downstairs to where his father was and gave his mother's message.

Princess Celestia made a personal visit with the Sparkle family to get Twilight Velvet's story first hand. Hearing a phoenix had kidnapped an infant unicorn was unusual enough to warrant Royal interest. Particularly when the Princess had a vision a week after Twilight and Moonlight were born that told her that Twilight would be the next Princess in a few decades along with her sister.

* * *

Dawn Potter hated England. She hated the magical communities. But above all else she hated Grimmauld Place and the man who ruled it.

She loathed Albus Dumbledore.

It was a simple reason really. Contrary to what Granger and Ron believed, she didn't hate him because of the Dursleys, the yearly life-threatening tasks, the information ban or the fact every Defense teacher he hired had tried to kill her in one form or another.

No, there was actually a very good reason she hated him with a passion.

Albus Dumbledore had made it impossible for her to track down her birth family.

Sirius had told her, early on in her new prison sentence at Grimmauld, that Lily and James were not her birth parents. Dumbledore had appeared shortly before breakfast one morning on July 31rst with an infant in his hands and had asked if they wanted to adopt her, since James for some reason could not have children of his own. Lily had attributed this to inbreeding. Dumbledore had believed it was because of the various potions spills over the years at Hogwarts.

So the chance to have a daughter carry on the family name had been too irresistible for them. They adopted her quietly within a day and gave her the Potter family name. Because of Lily's proficiency with charms, no one disputed her claim to have hidden the child until she knew it would be healthy.

Everything might have been fine, had Dumbledore not convinced Sirius to pick Pettigrew. Black had admitted it was the old man who managed to convince him to the switch.

Now, now there was this latest atrocity that she blamed him for.

During her 'trial', which was more like an inquisition, he did nothing to help prove her innocence.

She had no idea how she summoned a patronus to get rid of the dementors, especially when her wand had been left in her trunk that day.

Fudge barely accepted this excuse, and she almost believed that she would be declared innocent when he threw out another charge.

They snapped her 13 and a half inch Sycamore wand with unicorn hair in half right in front of her.

And yet, the lack of reaction she had to the act confused them. What witch didn't react to having their wand broken in front of them? They even had her checked for a spare, believing that the reason, by some female aurors but came up clean.

So here she was, in her own room thanks to Sirius putting his foot down (and also because her nightmares about what happened to Cedric would keep the other girls awake each night).

Sirius came up with some food.

"You okay kiddo?" he asked.

"Fine. In a way, I'm glad they snapped that stupid stick. It felt...wrong."

Sirius was the only one in the house who knew Dawn could turn into a small unicorn pony. It was her animagus form, and he never told a soul.

Only Remus suspected something, because the day he forgot his potion she was the only one Moony avoided like the plague while transformed and not under potion.

Later while Sirius was crashing at the Black Keep with Remus, the werewolf admitted that she had the strong scent of unicorn on her, which was more than enough to have Moony steer clear of her.

Werewolves know very well not to attack unicorns, even feral ones.

Dawn ate her salad and apples, since it was well known since first year that meat of any kind tended to make her violently ill.

(This fact was proven when some of the meaner girls in Gryffidor tried to feed her fried chicken once while the teachers were busy dealing with some other miscreant. Dawn's stomach rebelled against the meat and she ended up throwing up all over them. She spent a full day in the Hospital Wing after being given a stomach sedative. There hadn't been a repeat performance after McGongall got through with the girl's in question. Or after how Madam Pomphrey reacted when she learned the cause of Dawn's sick stomach.)

Once she was done, Sirius shot her a look.

"What?"

"Nothing...just curious why you haven't raided the Black library by now," he said calmly.

A few things he had learned about his goddaughter was that she loved to read anything, particularly if it had something to do with stars or mythology. Another was that she had the highest scores in Astronomy, often sneaking out of her dorm to go star gazing.

Professor Sinistra _loved_ her for obvious reasons.

"You got any good books in there?"

"Just avoid the ones that give you a bad vibe and you can read anything you want. Not like I care," said Sirius. Another odd quirk of hers...she was able to not only detect magic, but also the intent. All of that without using her wand.

Dawn went into the library, bypassing Dumbledore's stupid wards which would alert who went in and for how long and dove into the stacks of books.

She sensed Hermione coming in, and hid behind the books of obscure magic until the girl left. The last thing she wanted to deal with was Granger's looks of pity because she no longer had that stupid wand.

It was because she had hid that she discovered a scroll half open.

"_The Arte of Home's Return_?" she read aloud. Intrigued, she picked it up and began to read.

_**'The arte of home's return, or the home portal spell, is a rare and relatively unused spell that will transport the witch or wizard back to the one place that they truly call home, no matter what wards or enchantments bar the way. For the spell to work, their tie to their home must be absolute, with no doubt as to it's location. **_

_**For those who have lost their memory of their home, or have had the location removed by means of magic, there is a relatively simple cantrip which can bring forth the necessary memory to provide the direction. **_

_**While normally not used, the cantrip and spell are invaluable in cases where a child has been taken illegally from their family and to give them clues to their heritage.**_

_**For the cantrip...'**_

Dawn read all she needed, so she started packing her things into a messenger bag she had spelled to have an infinite space and featherlight charms. The store clerk had almost tripped over himself to spell her precious bag so heavily that it was nearly impossible to break into.

As Ginny could attest when she attempted to steal back Riddle's diary second year. There was a reason she waited until Dawn locked it in her trunk...it was easier to break into!

* * *

"You want to _what_?" said Sirius after Hermione and the school-aged Weaslys left. He had stayed behind to keep Dawn company since they didn't really need him. Everyone else had more or less left the house for the day, even Dumbledore.

"I found a spell that will take me back to wherever Dumbledore dragged me from. From what I can tell it's magical in nature so we should fit right in! Think about it Padfoot, which would you rather do? Spend the rest of your life stuck in this..._house_...with that portrait or take a chance with an old spell and get away from here?" said Dawn reasonably.

"You're going through with this no matter what I say, aren't you?" said Sirius.

"You better believe it," said Dawn.

"Forget Dumbledore, we're leaving England!" said Sirius, heading to his room to grab a bag. If he was right about the feeling he had, then they wouldn't be returning unless someone dragged them back.

Best to be prepared for anything.

Dawn, on the other hand, took full advantage of her unusual ability to use magic without any foci to hit the bookstore near the Cauldron. Grimmauld was just close enough that she was able to hit it and Gringotts to empty all of her trust vault and most of her family account (what she could access anyway), then proceed to lock it down so tightly that no one else could access it without her magical signature or blood.

The goblins were very happy to help her when she explained that she planned to anger the Ministry and Dumbledore in one fell swoop, and remove their access to the vaults in question.

Sirius, under a simple muggle baseball cap and fake glasses, did the same with the Black vaults after removing a healthy portion of gold.

He also grabbed a few muggle fiction books, to kill time later.

They returned to Grimmauld place long before anyone even realize they had left. Dawn's magic detection ability worked around the wards Dumbledore had left and the ones Moody had placed without anyone knowing about it.

By the time Remus returned, it was already far too late as Dawn had cast the spell with Sirius holding her arm to insure he went with her. He found the note and debated telling Dumbledore, before he thought 'Sod it all. He doesn't need to know.'

And with that put all thought of the matter out of his mind while he tried to find the spell so he could join Sirius and Dawn.

To Remus, home was with the Marauders and his cub, even if she wasn't James' and Lily's true daughter.

* * *

It was a peaceful day in Canterlot, though that would quickly change.

With a loud crack of thunder (with no clouds it drew attention rather fast) the Royal Guard dispatched to find the source.

Many of the Guard knew what Twilight Sparkle looked like, either by association with the new Captain Shining Armor, or because she was the apprentice to Celestia herself and thus merited more attention than usual.

They wouldn't obey her orders, but if she were in any danger they would do their best to help her.

So when a pony looking identical to Twilight Sparkle and an older unicorn appeared without warning looking distinctly like they had been on the losing end of a fight, well, the Guards were rather quick to take them for medical care.

* * *

"Shining Armor sir! Twilight seems to have been attacked outside the gates!" reported the messenger of the guards who had gone to investigate.

Shining frowned. That didn't sound like Twilight at all, and he knew for a fact she was currently in the library researching a spell for class.

Nothing short of a fire would get that girl out of a library if she had an assignment. Even then it would be a real battle to remove her.

"I'll be there in a moment, let me inform my parents and the Princess," said Shining.

"Sir!" saluted the guard pony.

Shining Armor had a distinct feeling that it wasn't Twilight in the hospital. He was one of the few who remembered Moonlight, or knew why Twilight had such trouble making friends.

When she was still a baby, Moonlight was taken. Their mother was so distraught that she mothered Twilight a little too much. Since no one could find Moonlight, the knowledge of her existence was dropped for the most part. However his parents never stopped looking for her, or at least word of what happened.

Twilight didn't know about her twin, as their mother had forbidden Shining from mentioning it.

Was it possible Moonlight had somehow found her way home, after all these years?

* * *

"Come in Captain. I assume you have a report about that noise earlier?" asked Celestia.

"One of the guards told me Twilight had been injured outside the gates. But I know she's in the library for a school assignment," said Shining.

Celestia privately agreed, knowing her apprentice's little...quirk...when it came to homework.

"You think it's somepony else?"

"I do. If this pony looks enough like Twilight to fool the guards, then I believe that it is Moonlight," said Shining.

"We should investigate this first," agreed Celestia.

If it was Moonlight, then perhaps she could explain who that phoenix was that had angered Philomena so much when Celestia had brought it up.

As such, she accompanied Shining Armor to the hospital and the two managed to assure the doctors that this was not, in fact Twilight Sparkle.

That had quickly been proven when one doctor happened to notice the fact that the pony in question didn't have a cutie mark, and Twilight already had hers.

"What's the diagnosis?" asked Shining.

"Complete magical drain. Whatever these two did, it nearly wiped them entirely of magic. Not to mention that poor owl is out like a light," said Private Practice.

"Owl?" said Shining.

She pointed at the beautiful white owl out cold next to the filly. She had shown up not five minutes after the pony was put in the bed, and had passed out almost immediately.

"A familiar bond that strong?" said Celestia in surprise.

It was clear to the Princess that the owl had followed her master all the way here, which explained why she was so tired.

"So who is this filly and why was she with this older unicorn?" aske Practice. She didn't approve of it at all.

"Why don't we ask once they wake up?" suggested Celestia.

* * *

Meanwhile in the Canterlot Library Twilight sneezed three times while reading. She immediately panicked before calming down when she realized it hadn't gotten on the books.

* * *

**_Writers and Readers of Fanfiction, SOPA is making a comeback! If you want to save fanfiction dot net from being hit by this ridiculous bill, go on Bing and find the link to the petition to end this bill! If we can't stop this bill, then sites like Fanfiction, Faceboook, Deviantart and Youtube will be shut down and making fanfiction will be a felony! Help us stop this bill!_**


	2. Chapter 2

Two days after their abrupt appearance, Sirius awoke to find himself in a hospital bed...and in the same form as Dawn's animagus, only with different colorings and what appeared to be a playful dog on his backside.

"Dr. Practice! One of them is awake!" yelled another unicorn. This one had a stethoscope on her rear, in the same place as his dog.

Another unicorn walked in, only this one had a red cross on her backside, the same one Poppy had on her hat.

"Where the heck are we?" asked Sirius.

"Equestria. Let's get our exam out of the way first. Princess Celestia would like to have a word with whoever wakes up first," said Dr. Practice crisply.

Sirius treated her the same way he would Poppy. That is, he was nearly terrified of her. Dr. Practice didn't seem bothered by this attitude. Contrary to that, she was rather pleased, as if he had already been trained to respect the Healer's word or else.

Once that was done, two guards showed up to escort him to Celestia.

Partly to keep an eye on him, but mostly because he had no idea where to go.

* * *

He entered a throne room which was empty of everyone but three ponies. (He had been corrected by Dr. Practice rather quick and found it easier not to argue.)

One was an armored unicorn with a shield that had a star in the center on his flank wearing a different armor than the guards escorting him. One was a unicorn with a scroll and quill, presumably to transcribe everything said.

But it was the third that caught his attention.

She (and there was little doubt this pony was female) was pure white and had a mane like a new sunrise. She had a long horn and large wings. On her flank was a sun. she wore a crown and some sort of armor on her chest and had golden covered hooves.

There was little doubt in his mind this was Celestia. It was easy to see why everyone spoke of her with reverence. He would be to, had he not been inoculated against authority figures at an early age.

"So...he woke first. Might I have your name?" asked Celestia.

"Sirius Black, ma'am," said Sirius.

"I am Princess Celestia. This is the captain of my Guard, Shining Armor. And this is Ms. Scribe. Tell me, Mr. Black, why have you and that young filly come to Equestria?"

"We were trying to find Dawn's home. I knew a long time ago that she didn't belong in my world. She was the adopted daughter of my best friend, and my goddaughter. She had just been thrown out by the farce of a government when she found a scroll that told her how to find a place she once called home. Since I wasn't about to let my goddaughter run off with no idea what was on the other side, I went with her."

"Tell me about this world of yours," said Celestia.

And so Sirius did. He explained about Dumbledore, Hogwarts, the so called 'Ministry of Magic', the war with Voldemort, the pureblood beliefs, the trial which had Dawn's wand snapped, the Order... by the time he was finished he could tell Celestia wasn't the least bit happy.

"I am curious, Mr. Black, as to why we should allow someone from a world as corrupt as yours to stay," said Celestia. Her frown had only begun when he told her about the Ministry and it's so called laws and it had gotten worse when he mentioned the war.

"To be honest miss, we had no idea where it would land us. We were just trying to find Dawn's birth family since we really had nothing to keep us in that world. She's been alone for so long that this was honestly the best option for her to find family," said Sirius honestly.

"Tell me...how old was Dawn when your friend first showed her to you?" asked Shining. He had been silent up to this point.

"About a month and a half, why?"

"Has her magic always been particularly strong, even as a child?"

"As far as I can remember, she's always been able to do the impossible. Most children can't apparate...or teleport...until they are older than five. She was able to do it at sixth months to escape her crib. Nearly gave James a heart attack when he realized. Plus she seems to have inherited some of my family's gifts when they blood adopted her. She can change her features almost with natural ease. When James first showed her to me she had red hair, but when I saw her after I escaped she had purple with two pinkish streaks."

Shining seemed to be happy about this news.

Celestia looked at her captain and reminded him that the tests were still being done. The she looked at Sirius and asked a rather odd question.

"Does this Dumbledore happen to own a phoenix by any chance?"

"Fawkes. Why?" asked Sirius.

Without warning there was an angry cry as a phoenix appeared and landed near Celestia. It looked furious.

"It appears, Sirius Black, that there has been a grave crime committed by this Albus Dumbledore. Roughly fifteen years ago, a young filly was kidnapped from her crib. Her name was Moonlight Sparkle."

"Judging by the way your phoenix reacted, I can only assume Fawkes was the culprit. This actually explains more than it doesn't about Dawn," said Sirius. It explained quite a bit...like why Dawn always said that her wand felt...off. And why she was able to turn into her animal form on the first try once she knew what it looked like.

"Moonlight...is one of my younger twin sisters," said Shining.

Now Sirius could see why the unicorn was there. He wanted to be sure his baby sister was back or not.

"I wouldn't worry about it. Knowing her luck, chances are that Dawn and Moonlight are one in the same. I know for a fact she'll be thrilled to learn she has a big brother," said Sirius.

That was putting it mildly. If Dawn really was their Moonlight, she would be doing the Snoopy dance on two hooves!

(He had seen her do it once, and that was it. It was a rather odd dance to be honest.)

* * *

Dawn woke up four days after they landed. The first thing she saw was Hedwig, her beloved owl.

"Hedwig! I'm so sorry we left you behind!" cried Dawn.

Hedwig hooted tiredly. But once her strength was back up she was giving her master a piece of her mind!

"Awake are we? Good," said a crisp female voice. Dawn wasn't too surprised to see a Pony in front of her. Having seen her animal form in the mirror dimmed any sort of shock.

Unlike her, however, this Pony had an image on her flank.

"Hmm...your magic seems a bit strained, but considering you jumped worlds with a passenger that's to be expected. It's recovery nicely, which is good. There is lingering malnutrition, which is bad. And...what in the name of Equestria is this muck?!" she said in shock.

No one had been able to do an in-depth scan of the filly because her magic still seemed to have a barrier around her. Possibly a lingering side effect from the jump.

Once she woke up, that barrier dropped.

"My dear girl, how are you still so healthy with this mess in your system? It's like someone threw a mish-mash of healing herbs with only the barest idea of what to put in it!"

Dawn blinked. Was she referring to those nutrient potions Madam Pomphrey used to force down her throat every year because she was a vegetarian?

The nurse seemed to be under the impression that because Dawn couldn't eat meat she needed something to supplement the proteins. This, in spite of the fact that Dawn was the healthiest of all the students in the entire school, because she actually _cared_ about what she ate. She only took them to keep the woman off her case.

Hearing the Doctor fuss over her was far too familiar. However unlike Pomphrey she wasn't smothering and didn't insist on a week's worth of bed rest.

"Well, you're in better shape than I would have hoped. Then again you are a young filly and it seems you at least know the value of exercise. Now I will have to keep you here for another day or two for observation, mostly because I want to make sure that mess clears your system properly. After that you can leave and be on your way," said Dr. Practice.

A few hours later after a nice nap (she enjoyed the meal that was brought as it didn't have even the scent of meat in it) someone came to see her.

"Padfoot!"

"Hey Pup. Glad to see you awake finally," said Sirius.

It was then that Dawn realized something.

"Oh my... You're like me now!" she giggled.

"Yeah about that... Why didn't you mention we were going to a world where humans are considered a myth?" asked Sirius.

As the two bantered for a bit, she learned that Sirius had found a friend in the captain of the Royal Guard, who offered him a place to stay in exchange for joining.

Considering Dr. Practice said he could train, if only lightly due to his enforced stay in that nightmarish prison, Sirius had taken him up on the offer.

Sirius left after a few hours, and Dawn enjoyed her dinner.

* * *

The next day she had even more visitors. This time from the Captain of the Royal Guard himself.

Dawn looked him right in the eye and said bluntly "If I broke some sort of Pony rule saying that you can't jump dimensions or cause destruction, sorry. I wasn't exactly in control of the spell when I cast it."

Shining Armor blinked twice, having to process that statement before he chuckled. Definitely different from Twilight. She would have been panicking at the thought of breaking any rules so easily.

"Actually I'm here for a different reason. What do you know about your past...particularly your family?"

"Not much. The only people who would even qualify were my adopted parents and they were killed rather soon so I never got to know them. The other ponies I don't even want to think about. Why?"

"Well after you were admitted, they took a sample of your blood and a small bit of magic, barely a drop, to run some tests. Yesterday we got the results... You have family here in Canterlot. According to Black, it would appear that the spell you cast dropped you as close as it could before it interfered with the spells protecting the capital."

"Wait...I have family? _Living_, non-psychotic family?!" Dawn said in shock.

Shining would have asked what she meant by that last part, except he remembered what Sirius said about his own family.

"You have parents, a brother and twin sister, according to the test."

"Twin?" said Dawn in shock.

"Dr. Practice said you can meet them once she's cleared you from the hospital. Something about not wanting to worry about shock causing any more damage," said Shining.

Well, that and it gave him time to inform his parents and younger sibling about the fact Moonlight was back for good.

With that shock in her system, Dawn passed out.

* * *

Twilight Velvet dropped the glass she had full of tea, only for her daughter to catch it before it broke. Spike, her dragon companion, was just as confused as Twilight was about why her mother would be so shocked to hear someone like Moonlight had returned to them.

Next to her mother, Night Light was also in shock. It had taken years for Velvet to stop crying over the loss of Moonlight. Even then she tended to hover around Twilight when she was in eyesight.

There was a reason Twilight Sparkle was a major bookworm. Or why she had trouble making friends. By the time Velvet was able to let her daughter make any it was too late for her personality to be anything but grating.

Shining only got out of that because he took lessons so he could join the Royal Guard.

"Who exactly is Moonlight?" asked Spike, voicing the same question Twilight didn't dare ask.

"Moonlight is your twin sister Twilight. She was taken by a phoenix when you were both a month and a half old," explained Shining Armor.

"I have a twin sister?" said Twilight in shock.

"Moonlight Sparkle. The two of you were identical in every way, though her magic was more obvious than yours. Mom was putting you two to bed one night when a ball of fire appeared and took her from the crib. I only remember it because I had looked in your room a few minutes before it vanished," said Shining.

"Why didn't anyone tell me I have a twin?!"

"We didn't want to alarm or worry you. We had just lost Moonlight, we couldn't bear to loose you too," said Velvet.

"Where is she?" asked Night Light.

"She's in the Canterlot hospital. She had to do a dimensional jump to get home, and she brought someone with her. Dr. Practice said she can leave in a few days," said Shining.

"So what does this Moonlight look like?" asked Spike. Twilight was still too much in shock finding out she had a twin to react.

"She looks exactly like Twilight, only she doesn't have a cutie mark just yet. She also has an overprotective white owl named Hedwig," said Shining.

* * *

The next morning Twilight managed to convince Shining to bring her and Spike to the hospital to meet her apparent twin before their mother got her hooves on her.

She loved her mother, but there was only so much smothering a girl could take. At least now she had a reason for it.

"Hey Shining Armor! Guess I'm not the only one to see the little troublemaker!" said Sirius cheerfully. He had visited her every day since she woke up. Dr. Practice said that having a familiar face had sped up the recovery.

"Black you hound dog! Tell me, was that your dog that woke everyone up yesterday?" grinned Shining.

"Who said I owned a dog?" smirked Sirius. The two laughed on their way to the hospital.

"Excuse me, but who are you?" asked Twilight.

"Hmm? You sneak out of the hospital again Dawn?"

"This is Twilight," said Shining quickly.

"And the lizard?"

"HEY! I'm a ferocious fire-breathing dragon!" complained Spike.

"Sorry, but I just don't see dragon when I look at you. Then again most dragons I've seen have wings," said Sirius.

"Anyway... Twilly, Spike, meet Sirius Black. He's a new addition to the unicorn guards. He's also the one Moonlight brought with her when she jumped worlds," said Shining.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Black. I am Twilight Sparkle," said Twilight.

Sirius shook her hoof.

"The similarities between you and Dawn are uncanny..."

"Who's Dawn?" asked Spike.

"Dawn was the name Moonlight was given when she was adopted by my best friend and brother in all but blood James. They had no idea what her birth name was, so they just called her Dawn," said Sirius.

"What's she like?"

"Stubborn, loyal and self sacrificing. If her friends were in danger she would be the first to try and save them. She hates liars and people who think that just because of her age that she can't handle the truth. She loves books, animals, and she has the highest grade in Astronomy that the school had ever seen. She also tends to be in the thick of any mystery within five miles of her, whether intentional or not," said Sirius.

The other three sweatdropped. She couldn't be that bad...could she?


	3. Chapter 3

Twilight stared at Moonlight/Dawn. Dawn/Moonlight stared at Twilight. Spike was on the side with the other guys watching this exchange with interest. The staring contest had been going on for nearly five minutes.

Finally Twilight blinked.

"Ha! I win!" said Dawn.

"What just happened?" asked Spike.

"Boredom and Marauders don't mix. Even if they are adopted. And Dawn really hates being stuck in hospitals, so she got bored rather quickly," stated Sirius.

"So what was with the 'Ha, I win' thing?" asked Shining. To be honest it was rather funny.

"Dawn sometimes gets into random staring contests...and always wins. The current record holder is Hedwig, and that's because she figured out what Dawn was doing first. Twilight here just happens to be in second place...most ponies can't handle five minutes without blinking," explained Sirius.

"Whatever it is, that was hilarious!" said Spike.

Dawn suddenly focused on him...and hissed. Spike blinked, before he said something Twilight didn't understand back.

"What the heck is that?" asked Shining.

"Parseltongue. Snake language. No idea where she got it, but Dawn can talk to snakes and certain species of dragons."

"Whatever it is, it's weird," said Twilight flatly. She dealt with Spike's snoring on a nightly basis. She could handle snake language...so long as none came near her.

"You don't like snakes do you?" asked Dawn.

"Not really."

"They're okay, but I can't stand spiders...talk about annoying."

"So what sort of books do you like?"

"Astronomy, astrology, mythology and magic. You?"

And with that, the two just clicked, over a love of star-gazing and books. Shining was actually rather relieved, since it meant the two would at least try to bond.

* * *

Dawn's last visitor before being released was Princess Celestia.

"Hello Moonlight Sparkle. Or should I call you Dawn?"

"Moonlight is fine miss," said Moonlight. To be honest she wasn't a morning person, and she loved the moon. She once considered becoming a Wiccan because one of the things they worshiped was the moon.

Too bad Petunia hated anything considered abnormal and kept destroying the books. She finally got a set, but it was a real pain trying to learn the old ways from the other students with Ron and Hermione hanging off her all the time.

Eventually she had to give up until she had the time to do it without them around. Maybe here she could actually convert to Wicca.

Celestia made some small talk before she left, having gotten a good idea of the filly's character. Moonlight knew that the Princess was just making sure she could trust the filly with her apprentice.

Just because Moonlight was her twin didn't mean that she wouldn't harm Twilight.

* * *

When Twilight Velvet saw her missing daughter, she started bawling and put the girl in a death grip of a hug.

Twilight would have been jealous...had Moonlight not had words like _"Help!" "NEED AIR!" "Seriously, help please!"_ floating above her head.

"Mom, I think Moonlight needs to breath again sometime," said Shining carefully, trying not to laugh at the messages Moonlight had above her head. Even Night Light found it amusing.

Once Velvet got over Moonlight's return, she finally got to see the shared room with Twilight.

In order to keep the peace between sisters, Moonlight put a simple translation spell on the books she bought and let Twilight read them first.

It was pretty clear to her that Twilight was Equestria's version of Hermione Granger, or close to it.

Twilight and Spike didn't notice that Moonlight had cast several silencing charms around her bed.

* * *

Moonlight's first stop in Canterlot wasn't the library, or the school she would attend in a few weeks once she got used to her home, but to visit Sirius and Shining.

Sirius, once his role in Moonlight's return had been explained to Velvet and Night Light, had been adopted by the family as a surrogate uncle.

Now if only he could reign in his pet dog Padfoot...

"Moony!" said Shining. Sirius let out a bark of laughter when he heard the nickname.

"Shining, you might want to try another nickname for me..." said Moonlight embarrassed. Every time she heard the name Moony she immediately searched for Remus.

Sirius snickered, but went on his way.

"So how did you get mom to agree to let you out?" asked Shining while he took her on a tour of the Guard.

"Told her I was visiting you. It was that or go stir crazy from being locked in the house for hours. And I don't want her to find out I have means to escape the second floor just yet," said Moonlight easily.

"How do you plan to do that?"

"I brought my Firebolt with me, and I've flown in pony form before. Difficult, but quite doable."

Shining snickered. Sirius had mentioned Moonlight loved to fly and that in the other world they did so on brooms. He noticed when Moonlight took an interest in the hoof-to-hoof combat area.

"You like to fight?"

"Hard to do in small areas. A nice old pony in Surrey said that if I had to run to avoid my so called cousin, then I needed to learn how to fight back. According to him I'm a Brown belt fighting wise, but I rarely got a chance to actually use it."

"If you want, I can see if some of the older guards would teach you more. Good fighters who don't lose their head in a fight are hard to come by."

"It would be a nice break from my magic studies," said Moonlight.

Velvet and Twilight were determined to get her up to speed magic wise, so she could join Twilight in school. Fortunately for Moonlight, aside from some control issues she had little trouble using magic like a unicorn.

This was mostly due to the fact that ever since she figured out that there was a reason her magic felt...wrong, for lack of a better word...when she used her wand, she just went through the motions and cast without casting it, unless the effect needed to be seen from the wand's tip.

Boy had her teachers been surprised when they figured out she was a natural at wandless magic. Only a select few knew, and Dumbledore wasn't one of them.

Shining chuckled again. Twilight's compulsive need to go to school and do homework even on break was by now legendary in Canterlot to those who knew who she was.

"Has Twilight stopped reading those books you let her borrow?"

Moonlight snickered.

"Apparently they were so fascinating that...Mom...had to order her to put them down to eat. She kept bumping into things outside the house!"

Shining was about to reply when a sudden crack of thunder was heard. One they had heard nearly two months ago.

Moonlight raced with Shining (outpacing him, to his shock) to find a tawny haired pony with a howling wolf with a moon in the background laying unconscious on the ground. Beside him was a book bag, frayed at the edges.

He groaned once before remaining silent.

"Moony!" said Moonlight, racing to his side.

"You know him?" asked Shining.

"Left him a note before we left. He must have either found the same spell I did or he found a way to follow us!"

* * *

A week later...and much teasing on the part of Sirius and Moonlight when they heard Dr. Practice clucking like a mother hen at Remus for overusing his core so badly...they got an answer.

Apparently he had used the same spell to find them, because Home in Remus' mind was living with the Marauders and his cub.

He had also brought the scroll with him, and covered up their tracks, seeing as how he knew Moonlight and Sirius well enough for them not to want to come back.

Aside from learning that he was now a werewolf animagus and in full control of Moony (no humans and having Celestia around=no more fearing for his wolf side) he actually liked being a horse.

* * *

Moonlight was staring at her flank with some confusion. About an hour ago while she was researching some spells that might have been labeled dark, she noticed her back shining slightly.

When she left the library she found a mark on her flank.

"I wonder what this means?"

"It means you have found your cutie mark. I suppose it took a while for your magic to realize that you're home," spoke a by now familiar voice.

"Princess Celestia," said Moonlight, bowing briefly. Unlike the other ponies, Moonlight preferred to treat her as if she were Buckbeak. With respect, but not so much that she was on the ground like practically every other pony tended to do.

From what she could tell, Princess Celestia preferred her way to seeing every pony nearly parallel to the ground.

"Wait, you mean like the marks on practically everypony in Canterlot except the young ones? I wonder what mine means?"

Moonlight's cutie mark was a circle lined by stars. Inside the lines there were two scenes. One was the setting sun with a sun shining bright. in the center of the round part. The other was a rising sun with a full moon shining bright in the round half. It looked like a familiar symbol, one that currently escaped her.

"I must admit, that cutie mark is very unique. I have never seen one like that in all my time as Princess. I will be watching with interest to see what you make of it, Moonlight Sparkle," said Celestia.

"You and me both," said Moonlight.

* * *

It took exactly a day for her to remember what that symbol was...of course Twilight helped because she happened to be reading about Tai Chi at the moment.

"I don't believe it... I have a yin/yang symbol on my flank! No wonder it looked so familiar!" said Moonlight.

"Yin/yang?" said Velvet.

"Twilight, can I borrow that book for a moment?" asked Moonlight.

"Sure."

Moonlight flipped through the pages to find a familiar symbol.

"This is a yin/yang circle. It symbolizes balance in all things. In order for light to exist, darkness must also be present. For darkness to thrive, light must exist within it. Together they represent balance and harmony in all things," said Moonlight.

"So what's with your cutie mark?" asked Twilight.

"The setting and rising sun, with the sun and moon in the wrong scene. I can only guess that the setting sun is darkness, the rising one is light. And the two satellites are reverse to represent the light and darkness in opposite form."

"It's rather...unique..." said Velvet.

"I ran into Princess Celestia and she said the exact same thing. Personally I would rather have one like Twilight's...at least hers is easier to understand," said Moonlight.

Moonlight deliberately withheld the part where Celestia said she would be watching her with interest. She didn't want her sister to be jealous because of her getting even more attention than she already was.

She had enough of that nonsense with Ron and Hermione last year.

* * *

Moonlight blocked the older Guard with her back hoof and parried with the front. He chuckled a little.

"I have trained many ponies, Miss Sparkle, but you are by far the most interesting. Not many would consider twisting themselves up to block before they parried," said Shield.

"I had a good instructor and a very good reason to learn. Power is meant to protect and help others, not to lord over and harm them. Especially when it comes to magic," said Moonlight, panting.

Now that she was at a proper body weight (and no longer had to stomach disgusting potions) she had started to put on some muscle on her bones.

It was very obvious to everypony that Moonlight was the fastest thing on hooves, having outpaced even the Wonder Bolts while they flew. It was only a little bit ahead of them, but the fact she beat them in a race spoke volumes about her speed.

Then there was the fact she was learning martial arts from the older guard ponies who had retired. They were pleased with such an enthusiastic student, especially since she already had prior training so they could skip most of the basics.

She showed up once a week, more if she could manage it. Usually she could, since the school work wasn't nearly as trying as the ones Hogwarts gave out.

Then again, according to Remus that was because she was using the wrong sort of magic to begin with. Something he had noted when he showed her the Patronus charm.

Moonlight still had no idea who that alicorn in the armor was.

"Take a five minute breather, and then we can do forms practice."

"Yes sir!"

Shield went to chat with his old friends while Moonlight took a break.

"She has to be the most enthusiastic filly I've ever met. She soaks up lessons like a dry sponge in water," he chuckled.

"Her cutie mark is curious. According to her it represents a balance of opposites," said Rain Dancer. He was a pegasus pony who took great interest in Moonlight's maneuvers while on a broom.

He was rather eager to see how she would handle real wings, having heard from a friend that there was a spell to give unicorns fake wings for a small amount of time.

"According to her, she prefers physical exercise when her brains full of too many thoughts. A smart practice," chuckled Shield.

"She takes instruction rather well. At the rate she's going she'll be a black belt before next Hearth's Warming," said Rain.

"I can't wait to see how strong she becomes once she started to learn how to use magic with her strikes," said Shield eagerly. That happened to be his specialty, and one of the reasons Shining Armor had asked him to teach his sister. Very few ponies could manage that sort of concentration while fighting. It was the reason he had been a former Captain of the guard many years ago before an injury forced him to retire.

"Break's over! Time for form practice!"

"Yes sir!" said Moonlight eagerly. She loved forms practice. She tended to try them every time she went to bed because it cut down on the nightmares.

As she followed his soft instructions, she thought back on her nightmares.

Sirius and Remus knew she had them, her voice had been loud enough back on Earth for everyone to know about them. At least here she was able to put a silencing charm without anypony knowing about them.

Out of everyone in the house, only Spike knew and that was because he had woken up one night to get a drink of water. He had agreed not to talk about it with Twilight or their mother because she had asked him not to.

About the only good thing this time was that she had something to squeeze to death in the middle of them. Shining had made her a rather patchy looking owl for her to cuddle with in place of the unicorn one he had made Twilight when she was a filly.

Considering how well it had stayed together, despite being made of patchwork, it was good work. Especially since Shining really didn't have the talent for it.

Even if she did have to mend Smarty Pants a little because the strings had started to come loose.

"I think that's enough for today. You've progressed rather well for a filly," said Shield.

"Thank you sir," said Moonlight. She enjoyed this sort of practice. She had always felt so disjointed when she did it as a human.


	4. Chapter 4

"EH?! You want me to go to Ponyville to help restore their library to proper standards?" said Moonlight. Princess Celestia had shown up a few hours ago to speak to Twilight about something, but had cornered Moonlight shortly after.

"None of the ponies in Ponyville can handle that sort of workload, plus it will give you a chance to interact with others. You haven't been the most social pony of late," Celestia said.

Actually it had been a concern of Shield and Rain that Moonlight spent too much time training and could use time off. Ponyville was their first choice, because that was where Rain lived before he moved in with Shield.

Hence why Celestia was sending her, not Twilight.

"I suppose it's alright. I do need a break. What sort of budget am I looking at, and are there any specifics I need to know about the town itself?"

"The book budget is roughly 100,000 bits. Considering how many use it, I felt a bit generous," said Celestia. That and she knew her younger sister would be showing up very soon indeed, and wanted her student to feel comfortable.

"As for the specifics, the librarian in charge might have some ponies over, so be sure to add a few bedroom for others to stay."

"When do I leave?"

"In a week. That gives you enough time to prepare and warn your mother you're going to be gone a while," said Celestia.

"Any idea who the librarian will be?"

"I was planning on sending Twilight there... She needs to make some friends, and I'm worried she has burned too many bridges here," said Celestia.

"Got it. To be honest I think she needs a change of pace too. Studying constantly is good and all, but she needs to have a social life in the meantime."

Hermione had been just as bad until the troll incident. If Moonlight hadn't heard about it before the feast, she might have been in the Great Hall when the news was set out.

As it was, several teachers managed to get there before the troll found them, though it was terrifying being near that thing.

Moonlight was still up in the air as to whether that had been a set up.

* * *

"You're leaving?" said Velvet.

"Princess Celestia said that the ponies in charge of such things were busy, so she wanted to give me something to do other than train. Apparently the library is in disrepair so the Mayor asked for help from the Princess. It will only be a few months, and I'll have Hedwig send letters every week. She needs exercise anyway," said Moonlight calmly, eating her pancakes.

Hedwig hooted indignantly from her perch. Moonlight would swear that her beloved owl and mother had teamed up to conspire against her.

Twilight Velvet was mothering, but thankfully wasn't as bad as Mrs. Weasley. That was a headache she never needed. Then again Shining had said something to her a week in about giving her some space, as Moonlight wasn't exactly used to having parents.

"You promise to write every week?" said Night Light.

"I'll tell you all about the ponies I meet and what I've done," promised Moonlight.

"I suppose I can let this go. Are Sirius and Remus going with you?"

"Remus is. He'll help me update the library catalog once I get the building itself in proper repair."

Unlike Sirius, Remus had gotten a job in the Canterlot library. He wasn't that comfortable fighting, and preferred the scholarly route. To his relief, his werewolf side had yet to act up, even during full moons.

A change of species seemed to do him a great deal of good. Though the strangeness of his cutie mark did warrant some interest at first.

* * *

Moonlight was very close to panicking when she first entered the house of the pony who agreed to let her stay there while she renovated the library for the town. Rarity was a very...pushy...pony on par with Hermione in homework mode, but that was tempered by her generosity.

Of course Moonlight still paid her for the outfit she came up with, as she rather liked it. Rarity had a real eye for color and form.

That was the main reason why she was going to enlist the unicorn's help when it came time to paint the library itself. Not to paint of course, but to pick the colors and where the furniture would go.

Now if only she could get over the near heart attack Pinkie Pie had nearly caused with her surprise party!

The second she spotted the apple topped cupcakes she honed in on them like Hermione would a rare book.

"Glad to see someone appreciates mah apples," said a voice behind her.

It was an orange Earth pony with a stetson hat and blonde hair. Her eyes were as green as the ones Moonlight used to have before her metamorphamagi ability managed to break through whatever glamour Dumbledore had put on her to make her look like a combination of James and Lily. She had three red apples on her flank.

"I've always have a love of apples, particularly the green kind. My name is Moonlight Sparkle."

"Applejack," said the Earth pony, holding out her hoof. Moonlight shook it without hesitation.

"So what exactly does everypony do here?" asked Moonlight.

"Well Rarity runs the clothing salon and is always giving out free consults when asked. Rainbow over here runs the weather, so you might want to check with her if you aren't sure of the forecast. Fluttershy is the one people go to for a pet or for health concerns, she's a part time veterinarian in the hospital. And Pinkie...well, nopony is sure_ what _she does, but she helps out at Cupcake Corner with the Cakes and is the primary party planner in Ponyville. I'm the one ponies go to for most of the foods, particularly apples," said Applejack.

Moonlight grinned.

"I might just become your best customer. Good quality apples are hard to find in Canterlot for some reason," said Moonlight. Applejack shared her grin.

* * *

Moonlight looked at the recently refurbished library with a critical eye. So far the repairs had gone smoothly, including the rather minor additions that no one asked about.

Then again the library had originally been a one bedroom home inside a tree. Moonlight didn't want to harm the original structure seeing as how it was built around the tree to begin with.

Needless to say expansion-spells and some subtle spellwork were involved. Including a portal spell that linked doors to rooms that were built linked to the tree, but weren't actually _built_ into the tree itself.

She had to get specialists from Canterlot for that one. Even Celestia was rather interested in the idea.

Today she was cataloging every book in the library that had been removed. Remus was going to help her by checking off which book was there and what wasn't, whether it had been checked out or not.

It took them two days to get through what was there and what wasn't, and if it had been damaged or ruined beyond repair. So far only three needed to be replaced because of damages, and four had been destroyed in accidents. Two were still being borrowed, but were brought to Moonlight so she could check their condition.

Since the construction was pretty much done, she started on the ordering part. But first she had some research to conduct.

Moonlight went to each house and shop and asked the ponies there what they would like to read. Some were similar enough that she was able to put a check next to it indicating more than one pony wanted to read what subject. Others she had to write down as they were different.

Rarity wanted some new design books to work with, Applejack wanted more farming tips, Pinkie wanted books on pranks and jokes, Rainbow wanted more action-adventure, and Fluttershy wanted some new books on recently discovered animals...the list went on!

It took her a week to come up with a list of books, and a day to narrow it down to fit the budget Celestia had given her. Since the library was a central part of the town, she had been given free reign over repairs within reason. This included repairs to the books already there.

Finally she had a decent list of books to order, and had managed to stay within budget. A week later the books came in and she was able to get them organized.

* * *

"I'm actually going to miss this place," said Moonlight.

"You're leaving?" said Pinkie disappointed.

"From what Celestia said, there's a good chance I'll be coming back anyway. My twin sister is a bit of a bookworm who doesn't socialize, and Princess Celestia said that Twilight might be coming here for a change of scenery," said Moonlight.

"You have a sister?"

"Identical twin sister," said Moonlight.

"That sounds like a lot of fun! You could switch places and everything!" said Pinkie.

"Yeah, but we're still getting used to each other. Because of something that happened when we were really little, I was separated from my sister for a long time," said Moonlight, shelving another book.

"That sounds really lonely," said Pinkie.

"It was. But since I found my family again it's gotten a lot better!" said Moonlight cheerfully.

The good bye party was held in the library, and was being held for two reasons. One was a celebration for the recently renovated library, the other was to say goodbye to Moonlight for a while.

The filly had quickly become friends with most of the town, having gone to each and every pony, old and young, to fit their needs. She had taken the rejuvenation of the library seriously and had even fixed several books that most had deemed a lost cause at that point.

Rainbow was already raving about the fiction books Moonlight had added for her.

The fact Moonlight hinted that next time she would be there to stay with her twin sister was the only reason most of them weren't sad.

* * *

"Welcome back. I've already heard good things about your trip to Ponyville," said Princess Celestia.

"Libraries were always safe havens for me. Besides, whenever I'm given a task I want to do it right."

"The Mayor was very impressed with the new library... she said you went to each and ever pony and asked what they wanted in it."

Moonlight grinned.

"They're the ones who are going to be borrowing from the library the most. Why not ask what they want first instead of filling it with random books?"

"You understand others better than Twilight does," said Celestia.

Twilight might have restored the library to peak condition, but she wouldn't have tried to get to know what the townspeople wanted.

Celestia actually felt relieved after hearing the report her analyst had given her on Moonlight's actions in Ponyville. The idea that Moonlight would become a Princess in a few years no longer worried her as much as it had when she learned of the filly's sparring sessions.

She had feared that the girl was still preparing for a war she no longer had any part in. clearly that fear was misplaced.

* * *

Moonlight was taking her usual run outside the borders of Canterlot when she heard something odd in the distance. It was similar to the sound that was heard when Remus showed up that she grew concerned.

Then there was something that had her heart almost stop cold. The sound of phoenix song was right next to the thunder.

In the palace, Philomena was going ballistic. The intruder had shown up again!

Moonlight didn't hesitate. If Fawkes truly was here, then they could drag her back to that nightmare world and she'd never see her family again. She bolted for the gates, which were a decent distance away.

Fawkes appeared above her with a cry. Dumbledore had ordered him to return Dawn to their world, after he figured out she had left theirs.

She was scant feet from the edge of the wards (which would alert the guard something was very wrong once she passed through it) when she heard a snide voice behind her.

"Going somewhere Potter?"

It was Ron and Ginny.

Ron had always been under the mistaken impression that once they graduated Dawn would become his wife. This wasn't helped by the fact that Molly insisted that they made an adorable couple whenever they were within earshot.

Anyone with half a brain could tell that Dawn, now Moonlight, barely tolerated his presence and was always disgusted by his eating habits.

Ginny always acted like her best friend, but Moonlight had barely tolerated her presence. She preferred Percy to those two. She paused and stood her ground.

"What do you two thieves want?" she demanded. She had not been happy to hear about the betrothal contract Dumbledore had set up between her and Ron.

"We're here to take you back, Potter. You're going to kill Voldemort," sneered Ron. His guise of being her friend had fallen off, now he was acting like the Slytherin he should have been.

"I am never going back!" shouted Moonlight. She could vaguely hear the Royal Guards coming, but if they might be too late. She had to stall for time.

Ron's sneer widened as he used his magic to pull her away from the wards. She used hers to anchor her body to the most solid thing she could find, which happened to be a tree.

Ginny put her power into his, and they began to pull her towards a portal that had appeared behind them. Thanks to the fact her magic was alread up and running, she could sense the spells waiting for her on the other side.

Spells of binding and enforced loyalty. There was no way she was going near that portal now. She started to edge closer to the opening, with Ron and Ginny already past the barrier. Hearing the cry of alarm from the guards, she put extra effort into her anchor spell. Her back hoof touched the edge of the portal, and for a scant second she feared that would be dragged away from her home. Her family.

She sent out a 'ping' of magic to find Twilight, hoping to use their bond to keep herself in Equestria long enough for someone to end the spell dragging her back.

Instead her mind went blank the second her magic touched Twilight's, and she felt herself teleport to her sister.

She crashed into the shelves, shivering at how close she had come to being forced to live in a world she hated.

"Moonlight, what in Equestria...?" exclaimed Twilight. The second she realized her twin was shivering from fear, she dropped her book and went to her sister.

Feeling Twilight's hooves around her neck helped a little with the fear, but the shivering still hadn't abated.

"Twilly, Moonlight's..." shouted Shining, when he realized Moonlight was with Twilight.

It took several days before Moonlight was able tell Celestia why the wards had been tripped. When the Princess heard what they had attempted to do, she was furious.

So in response to this new threat, she extended the wards. It took Philomena nearly a week before her anger abated.


	5. Chapter 5

The repercussions of the attempted kidnapping were felt for months. First it was the guard around Moonlight and Twilight, on Celestia's orders. She wasn't about to let her subject be taken from their family twice.

Then there was the fact Velvet began to hover even more around her daughters.

It finally lead to this.

* * *

"Harder training?" said Shield.

"I don't want to feel that helpless again. Those two nearly dragged me back into their war."

"Yes, this war that Mr. Black mentioned. To be blunt, I originally thought you wanted to learn how to fight in order to finish it."

"I'm not going back. Not if I have any say about it," said Moonlight firmly.

"So you learn how to fight to destroy the weakness in your heart. That is not a very healthy thing," said Shield.

"I know how to face my fears. The problem is that I fear for my family. If I am taken again, they will break."

"That fear can be met with strength," said Shield.

"Fear is something that can be met with courage," said Moonlight.

"Good. There is a warrior spirit in you, unlike your sister, the scholar. Unlike your enemy, you do not fight out of anger, or hatred, but out of peace. I can see why Celestia was originally worried when told of the world you were left in," said Shield.

Rain Dancer showed up near him.

"That spirit is why we agreed to train you in how to fight. You do not fight out of greed, or revenge, but in order to protect. And after this incident, I do believe we need to step up your training."

* * *

Moonlight passed out on her bed. Ever since she found the spell to give a unicorn fake wings, Rain Dancer had been training her how to fight in mid air.

The problem was that she could barely do the spell more than once a week, and her magic was rather low afterwords. Fortunately Sirius reminded her of an alternate way to fly.

And so her Firebolt came back into commission. Shining nearly had a heart attack when he saw his sister balancing on what he thought was an odd twig.

Twilight looked at Spike.

"Her training is harder than mine!" she said in shock.

Sure, she sometimes had the worst migraine after a session with Celestia, but most of the times her twin came home from her special training she usually ended passed out from exhaustion.

"Her training isn't harder than yours Twilly, it's just different," said Shining. He had been the one to bring her home.

"How so?" asked Spike.

"Twilight's studies are mostly magical in origin, so the worst she could get from over-training is a massive headache. Moonlight's training is both magical and physical, which means her body needs to rest as well as her mind," explained Shining.

"So if I ever took on martial arts I would end up in the same state as her?" asked Twilight.

"If you ever took up martial arts I would get you easier instructors. Princess Celestia picked out the best and most loyal to train Moonlight."

Shining didn't add that it was mostly to keep an eye on Moonlight just in case. Since then the only reports about Moonlight were about her progress as a fighter.

They left her upstairs to sleep.

* * *

After the third time she came back from training out cold, Dr. Practice ordered her to have a two week reprieve from the lessons in order to let her magic recover.

Considering she had been using her broom during most of those, she could only guess that her mother was behind this idea.

Though even she would admit she needed a break.

Which was why she planned to use this time to test a spell she had made a few months ago.

In an effort to combine wizard and unicorn magic, Moonlight tried many things. It wasn't until she thought of the possibilities of her cutie mark that an idea so bizarre that it might work came to her.

She was going to try to split her magic into two beings, one of light and one of dark.

In order to test this, she went into one of the guards training fields with several Pegasus watching discreetly.

Moonlight double checked her calculations, then focused her magic on what she wanted to do.

When it reached the point she had found would split her magic, she said the activating words.

_"All is One, One is All."_

Her eyes glowed white, as most unicorns did whenever they were casting a rather powerful spell normally beyond them. The magic took full effect as she felt herself split into two.

She blinked and heard a snort of amusement beside her.

Standing next to her was an identical unicorn that wasn't Twilight. On Moonlight's flank was the dusk half of her cutie mark. On the pony was the dawn.

"Well that was interesting," said the other pony.

"You do realize we'll need a new nickname otherwise people will confuse us," said Moonlight.

"Dawn."

"Dusk," said Moonlight, deciding to just use her cutie mark as a nickname.

"So how are we going to reverse this?" asked Dawn.

"I have an idea about that," said Dusk.

"_The World is the All and I am the One,"_ they chanted. Twin flashes of magic from their horns reversed the spell.

Moonlight grinned. This would be fun...plus it meant she could do twice as many tasks as before!

* * *

"Uh, Moonlight, why are there now three of you?" asked Shining carefully. Moonlight was an odd duck.

Twilight seemed to be ignoring the third Moonlight.

"Her name is Dawn. Since there are now three of us, we figured it would be easier to give both of us nicknames," said Moonlight/Dusk.

"Can it be reversed?" asked Shining.

"Of course it can be reversed. The first thing we tested after the initial split was if it could be reversed," said Dawn annoyed.

Shining looked at Dusk.

"She's the darker half of my personality."

"Shouldn't it be the other way around?" said Remus.

"And make it predictable?" asked Dusk.

"So what exactly does the split do?" asked Shining.

"It allows me to be in two places at once. Dawn has more physical power than I do, and her muscle memory is better. I have more magical power and my healing spells are amplified. In addition, whatever she learns, I will learn once we return to being one pony," said Dusk.

"Princess Celestia was fascinated by her spell," admitted Twilight.

"So can any pony use it?" asked Shining curiously.

"Possibly Remus and Sirius. From what I can tell, it requires the pony using it to be used to wizard and unicorn magic. Twilight has tried to use it, but so far her results are less than satisfactory."

"I keep creating a filly instead of an exact copy," said Twilight sourly.

"Yes, but if you recall Princess Celestia couldn't make one at all," Dusk reminded her.

"She also said that if Dawn tried to become warmongering you weren't allowed to use it anymore," said Twilight.

"Just because she is the more militant of my personality does not make her a warmonger," said Dusk annoyed.

"FYI, the only time I would be violent is if those idiots try another kidnapping attempt or if the need arose. Just because I am more of a fighter does not make me any less of a pony," said Dawn irritated.

"Plus this means she can learn from Magic Shield and Rain Dancer while I'm at school. Whatever she learns, I learn. And since we're split apart it means the muscle memory gets transferred as well."

"But we aren't going to leave it active for longer than a few days. The chance of memory feedback going wrong is too high," said Dawn.

* * *

Dawn was running along the perimeter of the wards, well inside of them to avoid any repeats of last time. Two Pegasus guards were watching her from the clouds, well out of sight for any fake unicorns coming past the barrier between worlds.

There was a crack of thunder followed by phoenix song. Apparently they had recovered sufficiently enough to try again.

Above her, the Pegasus guards tensed and readied for a fight. Dawn called Dusk and warned her of the threat.

If they tried to force her back, she would cast the return spell and reunite with Dusk who was in the library with their twin sister.

Because Dusk had the majority of the magic, by reversing the spell she was reintegrated with her.

Standing in front of the portal was a filly with the cutie mark of an open book with a wand as the bookmark. It didn't take a genius to figure out this was Hermione.

"Granger," said Dawn. She was fully prepared to pound the bookworm into the ground.

"Potter."

"Are you aware that we have books here so rare you will never find them anywhere else, and that the only forbidden knowledge is that which causes actual harm?" said Dawn. She was going to play off Hermione's love of rare books.

"What?" said Hermione.

"They don't care about restricting knowledge unless it causes actual harm. For example, the killing curse isn't considered illegal unless it's used outside self-preservation. Tell me, Hermione, what would the Ministry do if it were possible to clone yourself temporarily and return all the knowledge the clone had gained into yourself without damage?"

"Restrict it as a dark art," said Hermione flatly.

"And if Dumbledore learned there was a way to safely duplicate yourself, thus removing the need for Snape?"

"He would sit on it, and never really use it," sighed Hermione, "Dawn, I hate it when you use logic against me."

"So what do you plan to do Hermione? Stay here away from the war and meet someone who is very much like you in terms of being a bookworm, or go back and deal with idiots all day and restricted from certain areas of research?" asked Dawn with a smirk. She knew Hermione. Hermione Granger hated being told not to read something.

Hermione didn't think twice about the offer.

"Forget England...my parents are safely out of the way and they won't remember me anyway. I'm staying here!" said Hermione.

"Good...now to deal with that featherbrained fiery chicken...HEDWIG!"

With a cry like a warhawk, Hedwig appeared in a flash of blue flame and hit Fawkes like a comet. The impact was painful enough that it forced him to going through a burning day prematurely. With the attack was the destruction of the bond between him and Dumbledore.

His rebirth turned him into a phoenix much like Philomena.

Hedwig glared at the chick, and looked ready to toss him back through the portal.

"Hold on Hedwig...wouldn't it be funnier to see Philomena chew him out and make it harder for Dumbledore to lock back onto this world?" grinned Dawn viciously. Hedwig hooted in agreement.

Dawn was about to leave, but spun around and focused her magic to her horn. She blasted the portal, causing it to collapse in on itself...and if she was lucky do quite a bit of damage to the other side.

"Really Dawn, was that necessary?"

"It's actually Moonlight. Dawn was my human name," she explained.

"Wha...?"

"I was taken from this world before I was even two months old, and forced to look human in order to fulfill some prophecy Dumbledore has heard. I found a spell that would send me to the place I call home, no matter what barriers are in the way. I ended up in the hospital for a week from magical drain, but as a result I found my family."

"You have living family?"

"A mother almost as bad as Molly, only she at least lets her children go without a fuss. My older brother is Captain of the Royal Guard and my sister is just as big a bookworm as you are. Same compulsion to do homework and freak outs if she thinks she's going to fail a test and everything," said Dawn.

"What's her name?"

"Twilight Sparkle. My name here is Moonlight Sparkle. The best way to tell us apart is to check our flanks. Twilight has a pink and white set of stars and I have a rather odd Chinese Yin and Yang circle on mine."

"You only have half," Hermione pointed out.

"That's because I am currently split into two. Dusk is with Twilight, and I took a run around the ward perimeter."

"You have to teach me that spell...think of how many books I could read!" said Hermione with religious fervor.

"Wait until you get used to unicorn magic. Once you do, you should have the same luck as Sirius and Remus had with the spell. Apparently you need wizard and unicorn magic for it to work."

Hermione couldn't wait to learn.

* * *

"So we have another recruit from England?" said Celestia.

"It helps I knew exactly what buttons to push. She's the witch version of Twilight, with all her bad traits and no one to act as a friend during her growing years. At least until that incident with the troll a few years ago..." said Moonlight.

"Is she a threat?"

"Only if you attempt to remove her book while she's reading. Other than that, just toss her into a library full of rare and impossible to find books and she's harmless."

Celestia chuckled. That did sound like a more studious version of Twilight.

"What would you recommend?"

"Show her how to use unicorn magic and toss her into the same class as Twilight. They'll either get along perfectly or become rivals. Either way she won't be much trouble to handle."

* * *

True to her prediction, all Celestia had to do to keep Hermione out of trouble was let her in the Archives. The girl would vanish for days just reading... the only indication she was still alive was the food dishes left by Moonlight tended to be left empty.

Eventually Celestia appointed her the junior librarian. Hermione didn't like taking time out of her reading to help others, but it worked out.

Of course that was nothing compared to the way Philomena acted around Fawkes.

The former familiar of Dumbledore was having a rough time of it, as Philomena was not happy with his presence in her turf. Most phoenixes weren't territorial and could live in groups. Philomena, however, couldn't stand Fawkes despite being the same species.

As a result, every time he tried to escape back to his world, she attacked him.

To be fair, the longer he was stuck in Equestria, the harder it was for Dumbledore to get a new lock on the world. As far as Celestia could tell he had been depending on Fawkes to lock onto their world.


	6. Chapter 6

"So what are we doing again?" asked Moonlight. She was half tempted to drag Hermione out of the Archives, as she hadn't been seen in a week and the only indication she was even alive was that the bowls of fruit left out for her were all gone.

"Princess Celestia has asked us to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville, and she wants you to guide me around since you've been there recently."

"Is Hermione allowed to come?"

Twilight chuckled nervously.

"We have orders for a search and retrieval mission to get her out of the Archives. Apparently she hasn't been in her apartment for over a month, and rumor has it she's never come out," said Twilight.

"Yup, that sounds like Hermione. Girl would live in a library if she could get away with it," snorted Moonlight.

And so the twins went deep into the Archives, following the spell Moonlight had found to follow Hermione. Finally she found a flank with a familiar cutie mark and used her magic to drag the girl out by the tail.

"MOONLIGHT PUT ME DOWN!" shrieked Hermione. She was reasonably clean, wasn't starving, and covered in dust from some of the older books. A few wind spells cleaned that off though.

"Not a chance. You need to leave the library. Do you even remember what the sun looks like?" asked Moonlight rhetorically.

Hermione blinked rapidly when they got into the more public half of the library. The light was a bit painful to her eyes.

"Right. Until we can be reasonably assured you won't go nuts and live in the Archives again, Princess Celestia has asked us to bring you with us to an inspection of the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville. It's either that or spend an entire week with Dr. Practice being reminded repeatedly why your body and mind needs to rest from reading every once in a while, your choice," said Moonlight.

"I'd rather hang out with you. I've never liked hospitals."

Moonlight chuckled.

"Or flying, as I recall."

"What does flying have to...oh no. No, no, no! I am not getting on that!"

Twilight looked at Moonlight in question.

"Hermione has a fear of heights," she explained in amusement.

"Ah. You do realize she could lay there and keep her eyes inside the carriage right?"

"Or she could keep her eyes on Spike," snickered Moonlight.

"Who is Spike?"

"I am," spoke the tiny dragon.

Hermione blinked, then decided to talk to Spike on the ride there. By all accounts it wouldn't be a long one, but she still hated seeing the ground below her from the clouds.

* * *

Moonlight was trying not to laugh when Pinkie caught sight of Moonlight and Twilight. She gasped loudly and ran to get a party started.

"Who the hay was that?"

"Pinkie Pie. By the time we get to the library she'll have it decorated for a full blown party, I guarantee you. She's a real Party Pony!" snickered Moonlight.

Moonlight cheerfully went into the orchard with her sister and her best friend following her lead.

"Yeehaw!"

"Howdy Applejack!" said Moonlight.

"Welcome back Moonlight! Sure fine to see you again!" said Applejack.

"Princess Celestia sent us to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration. This is my twin Twilight and this is an old friend of mine, Hermione."

Applejack grinned and winked conspiratorially with Moonlight as she nearly shook their hooves off. Moonlight snickered. Since it would be easier to socialize with the Apple clan (they were there for the family reunion) than to leave, Twilight reluctantly stayed at the farm. She wasn't used to being around other ponies much.

Applejack stayed next to Moonlight.

"Yer sister doesn't get out much, does she?"

"Not really. Celestia thinks Twilight burned too many bridges so the idea was to send her here where she could make some friends. I was sent last year to remodel the library so she could stay here."

"And the other pony?"

"Hermione is being banished from the Royal Archives. According to rumor, she's spent an entire month in the deeper parts just reading, and the only way we knew she was still alive was that the bowls of fruits left behind on tables were gone. Until she learns to balance reading and socializing, she'll be here with Twilight for a while. I might stay too, if I can manage it," said Moonlight.

Applejack grinned.

* * *

"Oh...my...Celestia..." said Moonlight before she took a quick picture and hid the camera. Then she did the same thing Spike was doing and started laughing her flank off at the sight of Hermione and Twilight looking so...poofy! It was almost like they had copied Pinkie's hair style, only it had hairs out of place!

"MOONLIGHT!" growled Hermione.

"Oh relax Hermione, we have to see Rarity anyway. She might be able to tame that mane of yours, or at least give you an idea of what to get," snickered Moonlight. Spike was still snickering on her back.

Moonlight waved to Rainbow Dash, who had finished clearing the clouds when she heard Twilight's doubt on her ability. Rainbow waved back, before finding another cloud to nap on.

* * *

As Moonlight had expected, the second Rarity saw the state of their manes, she went into her usual freak out mode. She stopped everything she was doing to drag Hermione and Twilight to her shop to fix their manes and give them a new look.

From the amount of grumbling Hermione was doing, it was clear that she considered Rarity a far more intelligent version of Lavender or Parvati.

The two made their getaway as quickly as they could, since they weren't fashinistas like Rarity.

Rarity turned around to find only Moonlight left, looking somewhat embarrassed by her sister and friend.

"Sorry about that Rarity, Twilight and Hermione aren't used to dressing up..." she said abashed.

"That's quite alright dear. I suppose I _did_ get carried away when I heard you three were from Canterlot. Now I hope you've brought something to wear for this special occasion?" asked Rarity.

"Rarity, I was more interested in dragging Hermione out of the Archives than bringing clothes. So no."

Rarity had an unholy spark in her eye as she dragged Moonlight through the shop for something to wear. Moonlight allowed it with good humor, as Rarity, who was very passionate about her job, was just being her usual self. It wasn't like it would hurt anything and Moonlight was used to wearing clothes thanks to her stint as a human.

At least she was able to keep the fashinista pony from putting her in a dress, which she barely tolerated on good days. Besides, she had a feeling she would be fighting later anyway.

* * *

Moonlight caught up with her sister and best friend right before they entered the library.

"Where were you?"

"Apologizing to Rarity. Leaving like that was unbelievably rude you know," said Moonlight flatly to her sister. Twilight and Hermione looked embarrassed that she had pointed it out. The resolved to apologize to the pony the first chance they had.

"And now for the amusing part. Get in there!" snickered Moonlight.

She knew Pinkie from her time in Ponyville. No doubt the pink pony had already set up a party!

Moonlight was outright laughing at the look on Hermione and Twilight's faces when they found the party already going. Hermione glared at her friend.

"You knew this would happen."

"Of course I did. I got to know the ponies here while I refurbished the library. Pinkie Pie is a pony that will throw a party for any reason she can find," said Moonlight, still snickering.

Hermione sighed in defeat, and went to enjoy herself. Clearly she wasn't getting out of this one, no matter what she tried.

Moonlight was by far more sociable than Hermione or Twilight was being at the moment, as she wasn't interested in reading the books or getting any sleep.

To be fair, Hermione hadn't slept properly in days, so she agreed to wake the girl up once it was time for Celestia to raise the sun. She had never seen the event in person, and it would be quite an interesting thing to watch.

They stayed up well into the morning, though Moonlight did leave the library briefly for some fresh air. It was for that reason she noted the four stars drawing ever closer to the moon, and remembered that odd legend she had read earlier that week.

"Bugger. Looks like I was right to avoid that dress," said Moonlight.

She had still bought it, because she had liked the way it looked. She just preferred shorts and form fitting shirts when it came to fighting, less chance of her clothing catching on anything.

* * *

Moonlight watched in shock and some annoyance as the shadowy figure became a rather ticked off dark blue alicorn wearing what could only be military armor. Once she had laid down her terms, she took the chance to race off after the shadowy fog while Applejack was busy keeping Rainbow from going after the mystery alicorn.

Hermione followed her, as six years of chasing Moonlight in Hogwarts had lead to a natural instinct to follow her friend into danger, no matter how stupid the idea was.

The fact Moonlight tended to get them out of danger as quickly as they got into it also had a factor in this.

"Where in blazes are we?"

"Everfree forest. Somewhat like the Forbidden Forest back in Hogwarts, only we don't have to deal with Acromantulas, ticked off Centaurs or the chance of a werewolf."

"What is in here?"

"Manticores, Timber Wolves, and a hydra or two. There's also a rather friendly water dragon, if what Zecora told me was true," said Moonlight.

Both girls had their horns light up with a basic light charm.

Walking closely to the inner half of the cliff, Hermione screamed in fright as she suddenly slipped and started to fall off it.

Moonlight didn't think twice, she cast a by-now very familiar spell and had a pair of gorgeous monarch butterfly wings on her back.

Hermione was whimpering as she clutched to Moonlight like there was no tomorrow.

"Easy 'Mione. You of all people know I would never let my best friend get killed if I could prevent it," said Moonlight soothingly.

"I know...I just hate heights..." whimpered Hermione. She was shaking like a leaf.

Poor Hermione was still trembling when she landed safely on the ground, having held Moonlight in a death grip.

They started walking again, and were quickly confronted by a manticore. Hermione was all set to confront it, but Moonlight had another idea.

She had seen ribs under it's fur. The poor thing must have been starving!

Moonlight instead raced to the nearby river she had seen on the cliff, and used her magic to hook some fat fish.

Just as she had suspected, the manticore had been starving, the poor thing. She levitated the fish over to the beast and it lost all interest in them, aside from purring near Moonlight.

Their next task was walking through some darkened woods, which didn't bother them one bit. Hermione and Moonlight outright laughed at the 'scary' faces the trees were making, having faced down much more terrifying creatures in their five years at Hogwarts to even consider these trees frightening. Behind them, the trees returned to being normal trees.

* * *

Nightmare Moon watched the progress of the two unicorn fillies with interest.

Not many unicorns could manifest such magnificent wings, let alone be able to sustain them long enough to hold another. Temporary wings were notorious for using a lot of magic up.

As she watched the two progress, it was clear to her that they had been through far worse than her little tests had conjured up so far. And the purple one was definitely a fighter, yet she didn't wear the traditional uniform of the Royal Guard.

She would keep a close eye on the one with butterfly wings.

* * *

After a minor spell to fix the serpent's manicure (she learned it from Lavender, after one too many complaints about how bad her nails looked) they continued on. Finally they reached a bridge which had seen better days. Hermione took one look at the broken panels and gulped.

"Hermione, I want you to focus on me. If any of the wood breaks under you, I promise to catch you before you fall too far," said Moonlight, flying backwards. The spell would hold up for a few hours more, as she had cast it so many times that she could calculate how long it would last.

Hermione gripped the ropes like a life-line, to avoid looking down. She kept her eyes firmly on Moonlight, who was talking to her like one would talk to a frightening unicorn in the Forbidden Forest. And it worked, very well in fact. A shadow swept under the next plank of wood, and Hermione screamed as it broke under her weight.

"Mione!" shouted Moonlight. She flew under her friend, catching the terrified girl before she fell more than a foot.

Moonlight placed Hermione safely on the ground again.

Behind her were four pegasus ponies.

"We are the Shadow Bolts."

"Not interested," said Moonlight flatly.

The Shadow Bolts weren't dissuaded in the least, as they offered to become her own personal army to conquer other worlds. In exchange for leaving her family and friends in the dust of course.

"What part of _not interested_ don't you get? Why would I want to loose the most precious thing I will ever have for a fleeting chance of power?" asked Moonlight.

The 'pegasus' ponies hissed at her, before vanishing into the mist. But not before they undid the knots holding the bridge to the posts.

Moonlight spent five minutes calming her friend down, as Hermione still had trouble handling a near death experience.

A few minutes after Hermione could think straight again, they could hear company coming.

"I think Twilight and the others caught up," said Moonlight.

"Should we wait for them in the citadel?"

"Probably. Besides, we can head off anyone trying to attack them first," said Moonlight.

Moonlight and Hermione entered the citadel, only to discover... Nightmare Moon waiting for them. Her smile was cold and chilled them to the bone. She didn't care who she had to destroy, so long as she took out the Elements of Harmony before they could properly be formed.

"Let's dance, shall we?" she sneered.

"I agree. It's about time I got to put all that training to proper use," growled Moonlight. Hermione took position behind her as support, like always.

And with a single, unheard signal, the two ponies clashed.


End file.
